Sony makes great electronics, but boy oh boy can it make some terrible computers. Overpriced, always breaking and never a good bargain, the Sony VAIO is a platform I’ve avoided for years. Now with the new NR series of laptops, things might change a bit for the Japanese electronics manufacturer. Starting at $750, the VAIO NR series is priced for those on a budget. Don’t worry though, Sony hooked it up with plenty of features to make it worthwhile.
On the new VAIO NR laptops you’ll find:
-One of three new colors: wenge, silk, and granite
-A “fabric-like feel”
-15.4-inch XBRITE-ECO WLCD
-Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs on select models
-Windows Vista Home Premium
-A DVD burner for burnin’ the hot flix
-802.11a/b/g wireless
-LocationFree software for place-shifting live TV, etc.
-Multi card reader and ports o’ plenty
As long as the processor is decent and Sony didn’t cheap out on RAM, this sounds like a decent buy. Let’s hope it’s not plagued by past VAIO issues.
But why not just go with the tested and proven Dell laptops, at around the same price?
Dell laptops are garbage my friend. You mix a Dell with Windows and your get a sh*t sandwich. lol
Haha, what the hell is up with the author? I doubt that he has even touched a VAIO notebook during the last few years. Sony makes terrible computers? Yeah, they did in the previous decade. Where have you been? Sony VAIOs are among the most popular nowadays. Just read any notebook forum and see for yourself. And overpriced? They’re just a little bit more expensive than your Dell, HP or Toshiba and the price difference is usually because of a better screen, better finish and – most of all – better looks. Go to the store and compare for yourself – you may start making more sense.
Sony makes horrible computers? What are you comparing them to exactly? Sony and Lonovo probably make the best laptops out there in the last few years. Not sure about there desktops, but every student I know swears by their Vaio. They’re very stable, last for a long time and I’ve never had the problems with wireless networking that I did with my HP (not sure if that has to do with it being a sony). Those “Proven” Dells are proven to have bad load times because of an excess of useless applications and features and I’ve honestly never heard of anyone keeping theirs for more than 2 years.
Buy a Vaio, It definately won’t disappoint.
We have 2 VAIO’s, of the VGN family, and they don’t disappoint. While they are a bit skimpy on features, and a bit expensive, (1 GIG Ram, 1.6ghz Core2 Duo), when loaded with Ubuntu, they’re faster than my friends’ 2 gig, 2 ghz notebooks, loaded with vista of course. And the inbuilt nvidia card is better than the intel cards out there.
My only complaint is the poor speakers..but a good pair of headphones takes care of that!
I got a Sony VAIO NR series recently, and within 18 hours of using it there was a hardware malfunction; the wireless lan stopped working. Took it back to the shop, they said it was a one off. Got a replacement two weeks later, within 30 hours the same thing happens. My friend is trying to sell his vaio desperately because it keeps breaking, but nobody wants to touch it. Not exactly the kind of quality construction you expect for £650 ($1200-ish)
You might be getting some knock-offs. Me, my girlfriend, her brother, and their mom have sonys and never had a problem with them would not trade them for nothing else. Their expensive because they choose the best and most recent hardware out there. If it brakes blame the people that made the hardware not sony, Sony laptops are just the name, inside is intel, invidia, whatever you choose. Sony does not make computer hardware.
Correction. They do make some of their hardware like the cd drives, lcd screens (some of the best in the market). But the true hardware like the processors and video cards, motherboards, stuff like that is not Sony.
I have the white model i got it for a litle over $800 at best buy and its the best computer i ahve had so far it comes with 3 gig of ram and 250 gig hard drive. its awesome it starts up in like 30 seconds way fster that del, hp and toshiba and it looks great.
Beware-I purchased an NR series black color in Sept. 2008. The keyboard malfunctioned and had to be replaced by end of October. Now in January, 2009 the dvd player will not read movies so they are going to replace it. I thought that my old Dell Inspiron was a piece of s*** but it was great compared to this. Next time I will get Lenovo or Toshiba. too bad other sony products are great. No wonder they are losing market share.
They are loosing market share? In what world would that be?